Artis Leon Ivey Jr., better known by his stage name Coolio, was an American rapper and actor who was known as one of the most famous and talked-about rappers of the 1990s.
Coolio first showed up on the LA rap scene in the late 1980s. His first album for money, “It Takes a Thief,” came out in 1994. His song “Gangsta’s Paradise,” which was in John N. Smith’s 1995 movie Dangerous Minds, made him a big star.
The song made him more well-known, and in 1996, it won him the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. His other singles, like “Fantastic Voyage” (1994), “1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin’ New)” (1996), and “C U When U Get There,” were also very popular (1997).
Since 1996, Coolio has been putting out his own records. He has also become a chef, making a web series called Cookin’ with Coolio and putting out a cookbook. Coolio died of a heart attack while at a friend’s house on September 28, 2022. He was 59 years old.
Coolio: Net Worth 2022
At the time of his death, Coolio had a net worth of $1.5 million. He was an American rapper and actor who won a Grammy. Coolio passed away on September 28, 2022. He was 59 years old. Coolio was a big deal in the 1990s. When his first single, “Fantastic Voyage,” came out in 1994, it made him a big star.
Coolio: Early Life Details
Artis Leon Ivey Jr. was born on August 1, 1963, in Compton, California. He went by the stage name Coolio. Jackie, his mother, worked in a factory, and Artis Sr., his father, was a carpenter. When Coolio was 11, his parents got a divorce. As a child, asthma attacks forced him to stay inside, so he spent a lot of time reading.
Coolio had a hard time dealing with his parent’s divorce, so when he was a teenager, he joined a gang called the Baby Crips and started bringing weapons to school. After being charged with theft when he was 17, he spent a few months in prison. Coolio went to Compton Community College, where he got involved in the local hip-hop scene.
He entered contests as “Coolio Iglesias,” which led Los Angeles radio station KDAY to play his music often. His drug addiction was getting in the way of his music career, so he went to a rehab center. Coolio worked as a firefighter and in airport security while he worked on his rap career after he got out of rehab.
Coolio: Personal Life Details
From 1996 to 2000, he was married to Josefa Salinas. He had four different women give him six children. He was a spokesperson for the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America and the Environmental Justice and Climate Change groups, along with the saxophonist Jarez.
A woman sued Coolio in 2013 because he jumped on her back and rode her like a bull. A federal court gave the woman a default judgment against him. Later that same year, Coolio was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery after he was accused of punching his girlfriend of three years in the face during an argument that started when he brought another woman home.
In 1998, he was given six months of probation and had to pay a $17,000 fine for punching a store owner who tried to stop him and his band from stealing clothes worth almost $1,000. In 2016, TSA agents at Los Angeles International Airport, where Coolio used to work, found a loaded gun in his carry-on bag. This got him another probation sentence.
Coolio: Career Details
In 1987, Coolio came out with two songs: “Watch Gonna Do” and “You’re Gonna Miss Me.” He joined the band WC and the Maad Circle four years later.
It Takes a Thief, his first album as a solo artist, came out in 1994. It included the hit single “Fantastic Voyage,” which reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as other songs that did well, like “County Line” and “I Remember.”
To cash in on the success of “Gangsta’s Paradise,” which stayed at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart for three weeks and was also a No. 1 hit in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, he put out an album with the same name in 1995. This double platinum album had two big singles: “1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin’ New)” and “Too Hot.”
Even though he had left the band WC and the Maad Circle, he helped make their second album, “Curb Servin’,” in 1995. He was on the song “On a Twist” on that album.
In 1996, he sang “It’s All the Way Live (Now)” and “Hit ’em High” on the soundtracks of the movies “Eddie” and “Space Jam” (with four other rappers).
In 1996, he put the single “I Breaks ‘Em Off” on the critically acclaimed compilation CD “America is Dying Slowly” by Red Hot Organization and recorded the theme song for the TV show “Kenan & Kel.”
Coolio: Awards
Coolio was nominated for six Grammys, and his song “Gangsta’s Paradise” won the award for Best Rap Solo Performance in 1996. In the same year, he also won an American Music Award for Favorite Rap/Hip Hop Artist, and he was nominated for the same award again in 1997. Coolio was also nominated for six MTV Video Music Awards, and he won three of them in 1996: Best Rap Video, Best Video from a Film, and Best Dance Video for “Gangsta’s Paradise.”
Coolio: Legal Issues
Coolio had many run-ins with the law that got a lot of attention and hurt his career. In 1998, a German court gave him six months of probation and a $17,000 fine because he had robbed people and hurt people before. In 2009, he was caught with crack cocaine at Los Angeles International Airport.
He was arrested at the same airport in 2016 for allegedly trying to sneak a loaded gun through security. Coolio was put on probation for three years and had to do 45 days of community service.
Coolio was turned away from Singapore the next year when he landed at Changi International Airport on his way from Beijing to Singapore to perform at a Formula One concert event.
How Did Coolio Die?
Coolio’s manager, Jarez, told TMZ that the rapper left a friend’s house in Los Angeles to go to the bathroom. After a while, when he still hadn’t come back, his friend called him, but he didn’t answer.
Coolio was found dead on the floor, and it was thought that he had a heart attack. The official cause of death for Coolio, on the other hand, is still unknown.
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